Just an interesting discussion going on here:

In reading a lot of comments, it seems people are missing the point:

Truancy is caused because neither children nor their parents have any fear whatsoever of there being any consequences. So I say it’s time to start making some big ones, that nobody can get out of.

Schools get money based on student attendance. If students are truant (that is, absent without verified excuse), CHARGE THE PARENTS THAT DAILY RATE by ticketing/fining them, penalties included. Leverage the tickets against their state income tax or their driver’s license–something that they can’t just ignore paying.

So, rather than have the kid leave and allow others to learn, we should force him/her to stay and warm the seat, maybe even disrupt the class, just as long as they are THERE.

At my school, we have a trady policy that goes like this: if you are caught out of class when the bell rings, the teachers are supposed to lock their doors and the tardy students report to a classroom for detention that period. So our policy creates ditchers, because it gives the students somewhere to go and sit and kick it with their friends for an hour. After so many “tardies,” students get assigned detention. The policy is so absurd. How could keeping kids out of class improve their chances of success at school?

That’s an excellent question. Truancy policies like this make little sense. But again, they don’t address the problem.

***Clearing throat*** Ahem.

The reason why kids ditch is that they see no point in being in school. There is nothing to keep them in school… no incentive for them to be there. You can punish all you want, but in the end, if the goal is (as it should be) to educate the student, then perhaps we need to start by giving them something to be in school for.

Yes, yes… I know. Education is its own reward. Being intelligent, well-spoken, able to communicate, etc. are great things to have. But look at it from the point of view of a 16 year old who doesn’t know what he wants to do when he gets out of high school, but knows college isn’t it. Today’s school system is geared at making sure every kid goes to college. Every child must have ‘access.’ We give them career planning classes and teach them that success comes from higher education. And then we put them in rigorous college-prep classes and label them failures because they can’t distinguish between Teddy Roosevelt and Franklin Roosevelt.

Truth is, some kids know that college isn’t what they want. They are not sure what they want to do yet, but being a doctor, a lawyer, or an engineer sure aren’t it. They struggle to pass Algebra, tune out their History teacher, doodle during Science class… and that’s if they don’t just ditch, period.

Now imagine that instead of having to take all those classes, they could take autoshop, woodshop, drafting, computing, cosmetology… you know, the classes usually offered through ROP? The classes that are being pushed out and away because they are not content-based, they don’t raise standardized scores, and won’t lead to a college career? The ones that will churn out mechanics, collision repair specialists, etc.?

Bring those back, and you’ll see a steep decline in the number of truancies. Give the kids a reason to be in school and to enjoy at least one class a day. Stop pushing college on everyone like it’s the solution to everyone’s problems. It isn’t.